Parth Pathak, Associate Professor, Computer Science, and Robert Simon, Professor, Computer Science, received funding for the project: "Airborne and Vehicular Millimeter-wave Wireless Networking."
Pathak and Simon are developing a state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) mmWave wireless networking and computing software/hardware platform at George Mason University. The platform will consist of battery-powered and gas-electric hybrid hexacopters, vehicular nodes, and ground robots that will be augmented with mmWave WiFi radios.
The researchers will leverage the commercial off-the-shelf mmWave WiFi radios with beamforming capabilities to support gigabit backhauling between UAVs and front hauling with terrestrial clients. The testbed will also include mmWave software radios with superior MAC and PHY reconfigurability and control for research and development of networking protocols. The UAVs and vehicles will also be equipped with LiDARs and mmWave ranging/imaging sensors to improve the beamforming performance in unknown terrains.
Regarding the importance of this project, Pathak said, "The research will enable high-speed wireless connectivity and robust sensing for drones and ground vehicles, fostering new applications in civilian and military domains."
Pathak and Simon received $260,260 from the U.S. Department of the Army for this project. Funding began in Feb. 2023 and will end in late Jan. 2024.
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